I traveled around quite a bit, tasted many different delicious foods, but still I love Vietnamese food so much. The first iconic dish I want to introduce to you is fried spring roll, you may have heard of it a lot or even eaten it. But it is an art to making those rolls.
This spring roll (called nem rán/chả giò here) is something that I never get tired of. One bite and it’s crispy-sweet bliss. Two bites and you are floating on the cloud. Three bites, strange visions start to appear. And 1 more bite, your third eye opens, just kidding 😀
Now, if you are interested and want to do it at home, I’ll show you how we do it in my hometown (a little different in the north or south maybe I will talk about it next post), but with not exact amount cause I just do it because I feel right about it or my food spirit say so, I seldom measure it :D
Ingredients for 2-4 people:
200-300 gr of minced pork
1 to 3 eggs (not too many that can make the mixture too wet)
Glass noodles/rice noodles soaked in warm water and chopped
Wood ear mushroom soaked in hot water and cut into short strands
Chopped onions, garlic, green onions, carrot
Little salt, little fish sauce, little msg(if you want) and black pepper
Cucumber, lettuce, herbs (mint, basil,..) to eat with nem ran
Rice paper to wrap it
Look at those beautiful mixed colors! They blend their colors together like a vibrant painting.
After mixing them well, use a large cutting board or something convenient for you to wrap the roll. It can be big or small, long or short, depending on how you want to eat them, but make sure they are not too loose or too tight.
There are many kinds of rice paper, you can choose the one you like. I am sure it will turn out well.
Next step, deep fry them in peanut/vegetable oil or you can use an air fryer for more heathy until they look golden crispy. But to be honest, the deep fried ones are more delicious and you can use oil blotting paper for less oily.
The most important thing to power up the taste of the dish is to make dipping sauce with the soul of Vietnamese food: fish sauce. Mix some fish sauce with water, a little sugar, lime (depending on how sweet or sour you want) and chopped garlic, chili pepper if you can eat spicy, and add carrot, green papaya, or cucumber with flower shape if you have time, or else, no need 😀
We eat nem ran with rice or noodles along with many veggies, herbs (lettuce, cucumber, basil, mints, fish mint..). Nem ran is a really popular dish that we eat on normal days or any occasions.
You can wrap the roll and a little noodles(bún) with paper wrap or lettuce and dip it in the sweet sour fish sauce. Tell me what’s better than that! :D
All the photos were taken by me after many times made it.
Additionally,, If you want to take your fried spring rolls to the next level, you can decorate them beautifully and artistically in your own way. Here's my version.
Hope you enjoy it through my photos. See you in the next post with more interesting dishes.
Will you fall for this dish? 😀